High fructose corn syrup has come under fire recently for it's health concerns. Reputed to be linked with the obesity epidemic in this country as well as contributing to cardiovascular disease, it has drawn critics from some unlikely sources. Bob Rivers from KZOK has been decrying it for at least a year now, and more recently the pillar of health Shelvis has declared his opposition. Well, according to a new study, these two along with the nation's other health experts are wrong. The study found that HFCS poses no more health hazards than refined sugar. Some might argue that a study financed by the likes of Pepsi Cola and the Corn Refiners Association might not be objective, and those people would be correct. This is just another laughable attempt to legitimize their businesses and I'll be surprised if this doesn't backfire on them. Still, it's pretty amusing that companies still try these schemes.
I guess the tricky part of the study is their claim that HFCS is no worse for you than refined sugar. Since I personally think that refined sugar is pretty bad for you too, it may not be that far off. Sugar in general should be avoided as much as possible, and the degree of refinement is proportional with it's health detriments.
The number of people in this country who are concerned with their health is probably a fairly small percentage anyway, so it's possible that the only people who care have already been avoiding HFCS and this 'study' will have no impact at all. I'd like to see a study of what percentage of the population reads product labels or cares what's in their food. I will admit to being less diligent than I probably should be. Long story short, avoid HFCS and the white demon (sugar) as much as possible.
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I recently sent this letter to the CRA in regards to their ad campaign. My son is allergic to corn and all corn derivatives. I can tell you first hand that is incredible difficult to find food and products that do not contain some form of corn. We are one family that is directly and severely affected by the monoculture of corn. This is my letter.
"I am writing this letter to the Corn Refiners Association in response to the “Sweet Surprise” advertising campaign.
My husband and I have two sons. My oldest, Alex developed allergies and sensitivities to some foods as he grew. We monitored and modified his diet and environment as he became older, but as he reached 2 years of age, he became very sick with frightening physical and emotional symptoms.
We finally discovered that Alex was suffering from severe food allergies. However, it took me months to discover what food. He was reacting to almost everything he ate, every day. I finally discovered the culprit. It was corn. I had never heard of a corn allergy, and I certainly didn’t realize that some form of corn was in nearly every item in our home.
It has been over a year now that we have been avoiding corn. It has completely changed our lives. We no longer eat out, and I make many things myself from powdered sugar to play dough. I learned to shop on the internet, local farm stands, and health food stores for safe foods, and can no longer just drop into the local supermarket. I bring my list of safe foods carefully researched by a diligent online group which can be found on the Avoiding Corn forum on Delphi Forums.
I recently saw the “Sweet Surprise” ad on television and in a magazine. It was so disheartening to see these ads. I’m not a food chemist, and so can not respond to the allegation that high fructose corn syrup is “just like” cane sugar or honey, but I can comment on the ubiquitous nature of corn in our lives. It is absurd to even offer that corn syrup is “OK in moderation”. There is no way to limit corn syrup to “moderation” in the Standard American Diet. In the blogging community this topic frequently comes up even among people without food allergies. Finding one loaf of bread without corn in the bread aisle of a regular grocery store is impossible.
Corn hides behind hundreds of different names, and you don’t know if there really is corn in an item until you call the manufacturer, and sometimes they don’t know themselves. There is even corn in the inactive ingredients of the majority of medicines, even allergy medicines! I know that I am not alone in asking that corn not only be labeled clearly, but to put an end to the ubiquitous nature of corn in our lives.
It is time for the monoculture of corn to end. This “Sweet Surprise” campaign is transparent as a last ditch attempt to save the omnipresent corn monoculture, but we are not going to buy it. Please recognize that it is time to diversify, it is time to label what is going into our foods, medicines, and products. It is time for people like my son to have a chance to find healthy food to eat."
absolutely agree with you. have you seen this commercial. complete BS, I can't believe this.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVsgXPt564Q
I could really go for a popsicle right about now.
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